Elephant & Castle subway removal delayed again

So...true to my word spoke to the Regeneration big cheese just now. The underpasses: as has been said here variously, TFL keep sending the project back to the drawing board. It is absolutley preposterous, full of "how long the winkers on the crossings should be on" and so on. They have already delayed the thing by a year.

Without some sort of visible movement on the scheme, people are going to lose faith in the whole project and this is a serious PR blow to everyone concerned, not least the Mayor.

Plan of Action: Cllr. THomas and I are going to book and appointment with the Mayor to tell him that, having got all these extra powers, he should bloody well use them to crack the whip at TFL. Every day the whole regeneration project is delayed the costs are going up and this will be a disgrace which will fall, via TFL, on HIM. Watch this space.

So what date is now being proposed for the new crossings?

None given. All the money is there, the go ahead is there, everyone's gee-d up, but TFL have now found out all kinds of interesting matters which have to go through their 15 different departments..can you believe it (well, of course you can). SO, big fuss and headlines required. Please anyone with any time write to the Mayor.

Over at the Olympics site, they've already started putting up a huge perimeter fence, ready for the bulldozers.

Meanwhile at Elephant, more delays on the big announcements and on the projects which will make such an impact in the short term.

As mentioned previously in another thread, the cosmetic improvements such as the painting of the railway bridges and the tree lighting have been allowed to fall into disrepair and get vandalised, spray painted and ignored. Was lack of upkeep not identified as a major problem following the last redevelopment?

I'd like to be supportive, but when no news of the development partner appears on the official website and further delays are announced, it is hard not to be cynical.

jackie rokotnitz wrote:

TFL keep sending the project back to the drawing board. It is absolutley preposterous, full of "how long the winkers on the crossings should be on" and so on. They have already delayed the thing by a year.

Well it is a major traffic junction and these things do matter. One might ask if the E&C folks had done their homework properly.

I was told by someone who works for one of the big design/engineering consultancies that TfL are affected by some new rule (not clear if it is European, home grown Department for Transport of DFT gold-plating on a Euro standard) that means they have to assess the traffic impacts of every scheme a different way since last year.

It seems that no one in TfL's overall policy team thought to tell any of the design teams that this change was imminent and all schemes being designed for implementation from 2006-07 would need to take it into account.

As a result the timetable for schemes has been slipping across London.

Yes I'm beginning to feel rather disheartened by the whole thing. I've been here 4 years and I am starting to feel that the only thing that is being produced is newsletters. Nothing ever seems to happen and as mentioned when small improvements are made they quickly deteriorate.

Keep writing in kids. I am now posting selected comments on to those in high places. Perhaps it'll be a wake up!

Couldn't agree more with Williamn. The progress is painfully slow. If nothing begins to materialise soon I am thinking of moving out of the area. I was very excited by all of the regeneration plans but realistically it doensn't look as if any of the milestones for the regeneration will be hit. Also, I am beginning to lose faith that any of the proposals will actually be of the quality touted in all the PR.

More than one year delayed before they acyually even start on site is not a good start is it?
I believe removing the subways and create some good public space will be the keyfactor of this regeneration.
I wonder how much money must have been spent so far on all those high glossy brochures etc. but it all seems a lot of talk and nothing is materialising.
Personally I think to make it work this time (in long term) will not only be providing high quality new structures etc. but equally important is to maintain it properly. If not maintained things get very quickly into a downward spiral.